And More Winding Roads...

I thought I'd continue today the little journey, from the LAST POST.

I forgot to mention that we also visited the charming little town whilst we visited the farm in Pennsylvania. The town was a rather enchanted, vintage looking place-- part downtown Western frontier, enclosed surrounded by mountains, part old Victorian town square.

Here are some pictures to illustrate what I mean (click to enlarge):

The sweet little down town, one main street. In the background, you can see the old-fashioned church steeple...

Of course, the one room movie house. Alice in Wonderland lovers should rejoice!

The best part of town in my opinion: this old, delapidated Victorian house, haunted and gothy looking, smack in the center of town. Besides getting a good look at Victorian house construction, this house conjured images of ghosts living there!

I mean, couldn't you just almost see a face desolately gazing through the window?

A side view of the house. This poor beauty is definitely run down. Oddly, no one seems to want to fix it up and there is a "No Tresspass" sign posted on it's front door. I wonder who owns this and, more important, how I could get my hands on it! Just looking at this poor beast of a home makes me want to restore it to its former glory!

Outside the town, there are more enchanted properties:

Cottages, in town...

A cute cabin....

And, of course, my favorite...a farm...

More journeys...soon!

Winding Roads...

Recently, someone wrote me to express dismay that my horse journey wasn't moving along faster. Unfortunately, I can't force my life to fit into someone else's version of entertainment and, however slow it goes, it is what it is..simply put.

In the meantime, I've sort of reworked the sidebar description of this blog to hopefully reflect a more accurate version of what goes on here--the simple life, with far-fetched whimsical ideas, and plans of old-fashioned journeying. Perhaps I should change the title description, also? I DO WISH I could whip up a magical, instant journey, but alas Life does get in the way of the fun stuff!

In the meantime, journeys do abound in other forms. This weekend saw a real life road trip to Pennsylvania, as part of my secret life as a farm advisor. Ahh, you didn't know about this strange offshoot of this never-ending Farm Fever?

It's part of a much longer story saved for another day, but the beauty part of it all is that I've gone to various farms and various parts of the country, and at each endeavor, my heart has open wide with the beauty of the raw, ruralness of it all. And this weekend was no different. Central PA is truly some untouched miracle of land--crimson, tree enveloped mountains that surrounded golden meadows, untamed rivers, and post-card perfect old farms and barns. It's the stuff of anthems, of patriotic poetry and old quaint paintings. Everything was almost too beautiful to gaze upon, at least in my opinion.


We visited the Chambers's farm, a lovely young family with 5 scrappy children and two very kind and generous parents. They are working a new farm and wanted advice on what to market to Pittsburg and other larger cities. It was a weekend filled with laughs, talk, and just pure beauty. Plus plenty of animals!

The trees seemed to welcome us....

...as did this cute farm pup


(in on the "love" action)

Some rather brazen and wild looking pigs on pasture....

The Chambers hens....

A beautiful pond, almost mirage-like, in the middle of the farm...

Goats going up the side of the hilltop...


The view from our cabin hideaway...

...and our enchanted cottage, treebound. Here, our journey is not on the hoofs of an equine, but within a shiny green beetle.


..and of course, the proverbial chicken crossing the road!


It was a glorious weekend of laughing, meeting new people, helping others, eating far too much tasty and fattening food, and being charmed by a simple life and landscape.

...as it should be.